New Delhi, August 20: A 35-year-old woman suspected to be suffering from swine flu died at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital here, doctors said on Thursday.
If her swab samples test positive for the flu, it would be the first fatality due to the virus in the capital and the 28th in the country.
The patient was admitted in a critical state yesterday and was on ventilator support. She died at 10.30 pm last night.
“Her throat swab samples have been sent to NICD to find out if she has swine flu or not”, Dr N K Chaturvedi, Medical Superintendent of RML, said.
The woman had come back from Singapore on August 15 and three days back she had developed these symptoms.
Cases of swine flu in the city jumped to 355 after 25 new cases were tested positive for H1N1 infection in the city.
Earlier, Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia said “The number of cases tested positive is 25. Of these, nine are children. Seven are being monitored in the hospital and two have been advised home quarantine.”
The new helpline dedicated to Delhi today received 200 calls from different areas. “The number is 42565555 and MBBS students are attending to it,” Walia said.
Twenty doctors have been engaged for answering to any call made on this helpline number. They will be available 24×7 to answer queries related to swine flu by any citizen.
In an effort to contain the disease, Dr Walia has issued instructions for those who have tested positive for H1N1 virus and put in home quarantine.
“Those on home quarantine should wash their mask in boiling water before disposing them off,” she said.
She has also asked MCD officials to issue instructions to sweepers and carriers of the dustbins to wear mask and gloves before starting work.
-Agencies